A Mean Idea To Call My Own

Document - 1987

And then there was Document. This is the album that firmly established R.E.M. in the mainstream. Not only did the record break into the Top 10 Billboard album charts, it also boasts the band's first Top 10 single, "The One I Love". Also, this would be the first R.E.M. record produced by Scott Litt. Litt would go on to produce the next five albums by the band.

Document is probably the most overtly political album ever made by R.E.M. Themes of labor, business, and corruption dominate its eleven tracks. This record would cement R.E.M. as a "political rock band"; an image that would be sustained into the era of early '90s "Rock the Vote" politics. While this record displays a growing maturity in theme and songcraft, it's still a really great rock album.

On Document, R.E.M. continue to develop the louder rock sound that the band fostered on Lifes Rich Pageant. In fact, there is only one real slow number on the record, "King of Birds". "Oddfellows Local 151" has a slow tempo, but it's filled with crunch and noise and eventually picks up the pace. Even mid-tempo tracks like "Welcome to the Occupations" and "Disturbance at the Heron House" have an undercurrent of rock power that separates them from similarly paced songs from earlier albums.

This album is best know for its two big singles, "The One I Love" and "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)". I find it odd that "The One I Love" was such a big hit. It has only one verse that is repeated twice and a chorus that is wailed almost into incomprehension. But, it's a rocking song with a great guitar solo. You never know what people are going to dig. The other single is a novelty song that utilizes the trick of stringing seemingly unrelated subject manners together, similar to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". Fortunately, R.E.M. takes the idea and creates a bombastic, enthusiastic song that I find hard not to sing along with.



From this point on, R.E.M. were on their way to being one the greatest American rock bands of all time. Also, they were a few albums away from securing their legacy as alternative rock legends. Document was only the beginning of a string of albums that would be the band's most acclaimed and highest sellers. These records would form the backbone of the R.E.M.'s catalogue.

9 out of 10